09/17/2002 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 9/17/2002 police may have agreed to the need for a certain number of guards, and during these times of severe administrative budget deficits, she is certain that the city provided their support for a full complement of auxiliaries and school guards on the streets to protect children and that no one would argue that the safety benefits are commendable and worth the efforts. Phis is a safety issue, especially in these times of alarmingly high rates of child abductions. By this veto, the Mayor sacrifices the safety of children in order to preserve and maintain salaries of his personal employees. Presider O'Grady announced that, with a vote of 3 yeas and 3 nays, the Mayor's veto is sustained. Councilman Gareau made a point of order before consideration of the third veto item. He noted that the third is~re to be considered includes the $5,100 which is now, due to the previous vote, allocated to the Mayor's secretary position. If the third veto were to be overridden, the money would then be allocated to two separate line items. Finance Director Copfer noted that in the original budget there was $6,400 that was unencumbered. She is not saying it is wise to do down to zero, but the money is there. ff the monies did not come out of the Police Department line item, the total appropriation in Ordinance 2002-117 would increase by $5,100. t The next item vetoed by the Mayor was the addition of $22,984 to the Police Staffing line item by using the $5,100 removed from the Mayor's secretary line item and combining it with $17,884 remaining from the Adelphia Cable money. President O'Grady put the question to Council: "Shall Ordinance 2002-117 be passed notwithstanding the veto of the Mayor of the amendment to add an additional $22,984 to the Police Staffing line item, which is comprised of $5,100 saved in the deduction from the Mayor's secretary line item and $17,884 remaining of the Adelphia money, and to be used for the re-instatement of auxiliary duties and school guards to be prioritized by the Police Department in the manner they see ft?" Roll call: Miller, yes; Dailey, yes, with the understanding that there is a small unencumbered balance available to use to get this done. Whether or not the Police Department choose to use the $5,100 is completely up to them. Roll call continued: Nashar, yes; Limpert, no, commenting that he thinks the Police Department does an excellem job, and he has never known them to be shy about their needs. If they say they can run the department efficiently without this funding, he believes they can. Roll call continued: McKay, yes; Koster, yes; Gareau, yes. With a vote of five yeas and one nay, the Mayor's veto is ovemdden. (A discussion ensued as to the correct method to accomplish appropriating $5,100 to two separate line items. Councilman Gareau felt that the way to appropriate an unencumbered amount of money was through an additional vote of Council. Finance Director Copfer said the General Fund total was $19,021,828. If the $5,100 does not come out of the line item for the Mayor's secretary, that total far the General Fund will increase by $5,100. There is $6,489 that is unencumbered, so the amount can be covered. However, she does not know if an appropriation can be increased through the Mayor's veto. Law Director Dubelko said the Law Departmerrt will study this issue and provide an opinion very quickly. 13